Yorkshire Naturalists at Tehay. 277 



inspection was made of some of the sections exposed in the 

 Blea Beck, showing altered Ordovician beds with igneous dykes. 

 It had been intended to make a careful examination of these, 

 and the junction of the granite with the Ordovician rocks in 

 Sherry Gill, but the prevailing conditions made almost a com- 

 plete failure of what should have been a memorable day's 

 geology. 



Vertebrate Zoology.— Mr. H. B. Booth, M.B.O.U., 

 writes : — This was scarcely the time of the year for the orni- 

 thologist to expect much in this district — his time here would 

 be in the early spring, when the rapacious birds were nesting. 

 In the Yorkshire portion of the area visited the only species 

 worth noting were the sight of a Raven, a brood of Ring Ouzels, 

 and an enormously large Toad, which, apart from its size, is 

 an animal that is but sparsely represented in the more western 

 parts of the West Riding. 



Of the vertebrate animals seen in the Westmorland portion 

 of this excursion, those chiefly of interest were : — Mammals — 

 Hedgehog, Rabbit, Fox ; and the trappings for small mammals 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of Tebay, only yielded the 

 Common Shrew in abundance. The birds of the neighbour- 

 hood were chiefly of the moorland species, viz., Lapwing, 

 Golden Plover, Snipe, Curlew, Redshank, Carrion Crow, 

 Wheatear, Whinchat, with the Meadow Pipit as the prevailing 

 species. A pair of Corn Buntings near to the village of Rais- 

 beck was worthy of note, owing to the sparsity of this species 

 around this district. The Red Grouse was the only game-bird, 

 and the Sparrow Hawk the only bird of prey seen. Other 

 species noted were the Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail, 

 Black-headed Gull and Heron.* Species which only occurred 

 very sparingly, and which might have been expected in greater 

 numbers included the Skylark, Yellow Hammer, House and 

 Sand Martins, Common Whitethroat, and Redstart. In 

 reptiles the Frog was abundant all over the district. In 

 Pisces, several anglers who were staying at the hotel, brought 

 in many Trout, three Eels, and a few young Salmon, from the 

 upper reaches of the Lune at Tebay, and reported that Salmon 

 or Sea-Trout were abundant there. 



The most interesting ornithological item was the fairly 

 large Starling ' roost ' in the vicarage grounds, and immediately 

 adjoining the Cross Keys Hotel, where the birds kept up a con- 

 tinual chatter until well into the night. The Starling is not 

 by any means an abundant bird in this district, and the ' roost ' 

 appeared to be resorted to from every point of the compass 

 around ; as was proved by watching the birds coming in (in 



* We were informed on very credible authority that a single pair of 

 Herons nested at Killeth, near Gaisgill in 191 1, when young were hatched ; 

 but these were killed by boys. The old pair did not return in 191 2. 

 1912 Sept. I. T 



